1. Field of Technology
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted load carrier; and more particularly, to those types of load carriers that are fastened across a door, hatch or the like, and preferably at the rear of the vehicle.
2. State of the Art
A vehicular load carrier of the above-mentioned type is disclosed in international patent application WO 97/30870. The load carrier of WO 97/30870 has a load-bearing frame with two gripping means at the upper end and two gripping means at the lower end. When mounted on a vehicle, the entire load carrier is hooked to a rear hatch. Before installation, however, the distance between the top and bottom hooks must be somewhat greater than the height of the hatch. After the load carrier has been hooked to the hatch, the distance between the hooks must be adjusted so that the load carrier is fastened to the hatch. FIG. 2 of WO 97/30870 shows a tensioning means in which a bracket is caused, by means of an adjusting device, to fasten the load carrier to the vehicle by means of clip(s). In this way the load carrier is suspended from the hatch by its upper gripping means.
Load carriers of the type shown in WO 97/30870 suffer from a number of drawbacks. The adjusting mechanisms themselves require numerous turns of handles, which are located behind the frame, before the load carrier is securely fastened. This is inconvenient, and with the effects of time, it is highly likely that the threads will become stiff making adjustment positively difficult for a person whose wrists are weak. Moreover, the available adjustment distance is short, with the result being that if a user should wish to use the load carrier on another vehicle with different hatch size, this type of load carrier requires extensive reconstruction including removal of screws and remounting in new holes, if such reconstruction is even possible.
The present invention makes available a load carrier that is easy and quick to fasten to a carrying vehicle, that is adjustable within wide limits, and whose operating parts are unlikely to be affected by corrosion and the like. For these purposes, the load carrier has a frame that is divided into a main section that bears the gripping means for one edge and at least one tensioning section that is moveable with respect to the main section and which bears the gripping means for the other edge. The main section and tensioning section are connected to each other in a linearly displaceable fashion such that tensioning can be achieved by bringing about the mutual linear displacement of the frame sections by the tensioning means.
In at least one embodiment, the load carrier includes a load-bearing frame and at least two gripping means disposed upon said frame. The gripping means are designed to grip two substantially mutually opposite edges, preferably the top and bottom edge of a door to the vehicle. A means for tensioning the gripping means across the door by the positive displacement thereof towards each other is also provided.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the frame includes at least one, but preferablyxe2x80x94for the sake of better stability and less cumbersome gripping meansxe2x80x94two tensioning sections. Each section bears a gripping means for one of the edges of the hatch, and each is connected to the main part of the carrier by a pair of preferably telescopic tubes that are disposed, one on each side of the load-bearing frame. Telescopic tubes are a simple and reliable design for linear motion, which in the present case may be integrated into the construction by choosing suitable dimensions for the constituent parts.
Furthermore, quick fastening can be achieved if each tensioning means includes an operating means rotatably mounted about a shaft and having a surface which is eccentric with respect to the shaft, and a fulcrum having a bearing surface that interacts with the eccentric surface of the operating means. The shaft, and hence the operating means, are mounted to one of the frame sections. The fulcrum is mounted on the other frame section so that the operating means, and hence the load carrier, can be caused to assume an unfastened and a fastened position corresponding respectively to a more and a less centered position of the fulcrum in relation to the shaft and to corresponding relative displacements of the frame sections. In a variant of the this embodiment of the invention, the shaft of the operating means is mounted to pass transversely through the outer telescopic tube via elongated holes extending along the length of the tube. This permits displacement of the shaft along the tube. A drag link is provided inside the tube between the shaft and the inner telescopic tube, which in combination with the fulcrum is disposed on the outer tube and the eccentric surface disposed on the operating means in such a manner that the rotation of the operating means from the unfastened into the fastened position, by the interaction between the eccentric surface of the operating means and the fulcrum, causes the shaft, the drag link, and hence the inner tube to slide telescopically into the outer tube. This design features a protected location inside the tubes and is thus durable, relatively simple, and reliable. To permit simple dimensional adjustment such as that which is desirable, for example, when changing vehicles, the drag link may be provided with a connector to the shaft which is selectably adjustable along the length of the drag link.
A very useful solution for an adjustable connection between the drag link and the shaft is of the type used in so-called Polygrip pliers, namely, the drag link is elongated in form, the shaft extends through a hole in the drag link. The hole in the drag link is elongated and disposed longitudinally along the drag link and is formed with a slip side, which is straight, and a locking side having a row, parallel to the slip side, of mutually adjacent notches having the shape of circular segments. The shaft is of a cross-section having the form of the major segment of a circle with a removed part in the form of a minor segment. The diameter of the circle is substantially equal to the perpendicular distance between the slip side and the bottom of one of the circular segment shaped notches. The smallest thickness of the shaft at the xe2x80x9cremovedxe2x80x9d segment is substantially equal to the perpendicular distance between the slip side and the peaks separating the notches. In this embodiment the shaft is rigidly united to the operating means in such a manner that when the operating means is in its unfastened position, the shaft has its least thickness perpendicular to the slip side and moveable in relation to the hole in the drag link. When the operating means is in its fastened position, part of the shaft is located in one of the circular segment shaped notches, blocking transverse movement of the drag link in relation to the shaft.